From there, Vera directs security for the XXV Olympic Games, which officially open today with elaborate ceremonies and even more elaborate anti- terrorist precautions.

Vera commands a fleet of warships, 47,000 police and officers, the entire Spanish air force and an electronic snooping network that includes two satellites and millions of gigabites of computer power.

But the items he is most proud of are his three new ``toys``: a fleet of mini-submarines, both manned and robot; a wing of police helicopters named ``Blue Thunder`` and a digital identification checking device that locks in a person`s facial features.

Such attention is being paid to security in Barcelona largely because the specter of Munich hangs heavy over the bright Mediterranean setting of the Games.

With Basque separatists, Libyan terrorists, the Palestinian Hezbollah and the Irish Republican Army all lurking in the shadows and possibly thinking about the 1972 Munich massacre, ``every precaution is too little,`` security officials said.

``Since Munich the concept of Olympic security has changed forever,`` said Eladio Jareno, a spokesman for Barcelona`s civil security forces.

Because of the 1972 attack on Israeli athletes, Spanish authorities will ask the Israeli Mossad to provide perimeter security for the Olympic Villa quarters of its nation`s athletes.

But every other security force in the world has agreed to stay home after checking out the Spanish plans and hardware.

``We`ve looked at it carefully from inside out and they have done everything that you can think of,`` a diplomat who has worked closely with Spanish officials said.

``When Mrs. (Marilyn) Quayle was at Expo `92, the U.S. Secret Service did a security check of all the services and they passed all the tests,`` the officer said of the vice president`s wife.

This will be the first time in many Olympics that U.S. athletes will not have U.S. security detachments.

Western and Israeli officials said Spanish authorities built the Olympic security system only after asking every important country with security concerns what they wanted to see in place.

``They just went ahead and put in every single request. We were flabbergasted,`` an officer said.

Augustin Valladolid, a Ministry of Interior official, said, ``We have had intelligence people from all over coming to check out our hardware, our intelligence, our procedures, and they have all gone back smiling.``

``The Japanese were insisting that they wanted to have their own explosives- sniffing dogs, but after they came in and looked at our dogs they told us ours were better -- and better groomed too,`` Valladolid said.

The security is clearly a showcase of the power and the enterprise of modern Spain.

So intense was the preparation that Spain developed a new branch of its military for the Olympics.

Because Olympic planners and security authorities think some of the major threats might come from the Mediterranean, they have put heavy emphasis on sea and air security. So the Civil Guard of the Sea will be patrolling inside the 12-mile limit.

Part of the maritime concerns result from the fact that 30,000 Olympic guests and VIPs will be housed on 12 passenger ships to be moored in Barcelona harbor. The Civil Guard of the Sea will use its new equipment there, including a new fleet of manned mini-submarines and submarine robots, powerful gunboats and a wing of French-built armored helicopters called ``Blue Thunder.``

But Barcelona, which sits inside a semicircle of mountains, can also be threatened from high points. So the city will be surrounded by Rangers who will patrol strategic sites.

An electronic safety cordon with three layers has been created. One is for the city of Barcelona, which has only two access roads. There is another cordon around Olympic installations, and a third cordon -- the tightest -- around athletes` villas and sports centers.

Part of the electronic security consists of 2,000 cameras, most of them out of sight.

The bill for all this security is $330 million. That includes only army and police overtime, the hiring of nearly 15,000 civil security guards and the expense of moving and feeding 47,000 security forces.

``The cost of hardware and new military equipment, which is considerable, is much, much higher, but that went into the Ministry of the Defense budget as capital expense in the last two years,`` Jareno said. ``That budget is confidential.``

This immense array of hardware and personnel will be commanded by Vera, the Spanish secretary of state of the interior, who during the Games will live in a five-story underground, hardened building being called ``the Olympic bunker.``

OLYMPICS COVERAGE

Opening Ceremonies of the 1992 Summer Olympics will be televised beginning at 8 p.m. today on NBC. Inside:

-- RECENT WORLD events make for many ``firsts`` when the XXV Olympiad officially begins tonight. 1C

-- U.S. SOCCER team loses first game 2-1 to Italy as controversy surrounds benching of high-scoring Steve Snow. 6C